


Adjusting Fate

by smalltrolven



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU Season 3 and 4, Fate, Fate & Destiny, First Kiss, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-21
Updated: 2013-05-21
Packaged: 2017-12-12 12:23:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/811568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smalltrolven/pseuds/smalltrolven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Dean find that Free will may be an illusion, but one’s fate can always be adjusted.  A story of Free Will’s triumph. An end of season 2 through end of season 4 AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adjusting Fate

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Canon character deaths.
> 
> Author’s Note: Not my characters, only my words. Inspired by the movie “The Adjustment Bureau”, (which Eric Kripke was Associate Producer for!), which was inspired by a Philip K. Dick short story. This was written for 2013 spn-cinema. Thank you to stella-lost for the always useful and timely beta!
> 
> In case you've seen the movie:  
> Cast of Characters:
> 
> Dean – David Norris
> 
> Sam – Elise Sellas
> 
> Gabriel – Harry Mitchell, a lower level Adjuster
> 
> Castiel- Mr. Richardson, Harry’s boss.
> 
> Zachariah – Mr. Thompson, Castiel’s boss.
> 
> Uriel – Burdensky, Castiel’s other assistant

That rainy cold night at the diner, **_the_** crucial night, where so many are watching to see if it would all go one way or the other, there is another car already in the parking lot when Sam and Dean pull up in the Impala. Their beautiful, long, black car skids to a stop in the deep puddles in the gravel parking lot.  Soon Sam emerges from the passenger side.  Over the rain, their voices can just barely be heard.

Dean yelling from inside the car, “Don't forget the extra onions this time!”

Sam pauses and dips back down to make eye contact with his brother so he can see his rolling eyes, “I'm the one who has to ride in the car with your extra onions.”

Sam’s moved several steps away when Dean yells, “Hey, see if they've got any pie. Bring me some pie. I love me some pie.”

A man in a trench coat and fedora opens the passenger side car door of the other car in the parking lot and gets in, sitting down next to the driver, a smaller man, dressed in just a suit and fedora, no trench coat.

“Good evening Gabriel.  You look terrible, just how tired are you?” says the newcomer.

“Hey Castiel, thanks for coming, wasn’t sure you’d be here.”  Gabriel answers without acknowledging the comment about how tired he looks, because he knows already, it’s not going to change anything at this point.

“So, Dean Winchester is to get in the diner door by eleven oh five.  Eleven oh five at the latest.”  Castiel says, emphasizing the time with a pointing gesture.

Gabriel rolls his eyes at being reminded by his boss, yet again, of course he knows how important this is, “Don’t worry, I’ll get him as soon as he gets out of his car.”

Castiel opens the car door to leave, “I know you will. Can't imagine being on this guy as long as you have, you really need to take a vacation after this.”  The door slams and he disappears into the dark rainy night.

A couple spaces over in the diner parking lot in the Impala, Dean sits back and watches his brother through the diner windows, thinking about pie, and what kind Sam’s gonna bring back.  He’s just about to get out and go make sure he doesn’t get peach, because, yuck, peach, and who knows if Sam will remember with everything that’s going on.  His hand is on the car door handle, and he’s about take the keys out of the ignition when one of his favorite Boston songs come on the radio.  So he turns it up and sits back, relaxing for a while listening to the guitar work that he still loves no matter how many times he’s heard it. 

In his car in the parking lot nearby the Impala, Gabriel has fallen asleep, his dark grey fedora is sitting on his lap, and his bare head lolls against the window.  He’s been so tired for so long, with no rest, following Dean and Sam, making sure they stay on Plan.  He just meant to close his eyes for a second, not wanting to get out into the cold, rainy night a second earlier than he had to.  Even Adjusters feel the cold after all.  But he’s asleep now, and the time is passing,

Eleven oh three,

Eleven oh four,

Eleven oh five. 

Gabriel is still dead to the world, asleep and dreaming of being human, not wearing a hat, having the responsibility, being oblivious and happy.

Back in The Impala, the radio goes staticky just at the best part of the song, Dean tries to tune it in a little better, but gets nothing, just even more static.  He suddenly gets an awful feeling that something terrible has happened, one of those feelings deep in your gut that you can’t ignore and he runs into the diner at top speed.  But Sam’s gone, everyone’s dead, and there’s sulfur on the window sill.  In a blind panic he runs outside and yells at the top of his lungs, “Saaaammm!”

Dean’s yelling wakes Gabriel up, and he jumps out of his car, putting his fedora back on, he looks at his watch, “Damn.”  He walks over to where Dean is frantically searching under all the cars in the parking lot.

“Hey, Dean.”

Dean straightens up and looks down at the stranger, “Who the hell are you?”

“I’m Gabriel.  Come with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you, I need to find my brother!  Sam!” Dean yells, backing away from this strange small man in a grey suit and fedora of all things out here in this muddy, soaking wet parking lot.

“No choice, sorry Dean.”  Gabriel grabs his hand and pulls him with surprising strength back towards the diner, turning the doorknob and they step through into a room that is most definitely not a diner filled with dead people slumped over into their pie as Dean expects.  Instead it is a beautiful room, white walls with ornate gold curlicue trim, expensive and elaborate paintings and mirrors, classy huge furniture, and two men, seated on large green chairs. The first a medium sized white man, wearing an overcoat and a black fedora, the other a very large black man with a grey suit and fedora.

“Hello Dean.” Says the man in the overcoat.

“Who the hell are you people? Where am I? Where’s Sam?”  Dean demands, looking around frantically, trying to figure out where the hell he is all of a sudden.

“All very good questions.  You can call us Adjusters.  I am Castiel.” The man in the over coat answers, then he points at the enormous man next to him, “And this is Uriel. You are behind the scenes right now Dean. Unfortunately, Gabriel here did not do his job correctly and we need to correct things.”

“What things?” Dean asks.

“Well, you were supposed to get inside that diner before the demon came and took your brother.  You would have been able to fight him off, then in about a week you were to have killed the demon you’ve been looking for, Azazel, with your brother at your side.  And he was then to go back to Stanford.  But now it will all have to be a little different.”

“How different?”

“I’m afraid to correct things, Sam is going to have to die.”

“No way. Not happening.” Dean declares fiercely.

“As if you have anything you can say or do to change it.” Castiel says.

“Watch me.” Dean says flatly, rage barely contained in his shaking human form.

“Dean if you tell anyone about what you’ve seen here tonight, we will be forced to reset you.  We cannot have that.”

“Reset me? What does that mean?”

“Your memories will be erased from a certain point onwards.  Likely you would not remember Sam.”

“You can’t just do that.”

“Yes, we can, we do it when necessary.  But Dean, we do not want to, we would honestly really rather not take the extra time and effort.  If you just keep your mouth shut it’ll be fine.”

“It’s not gonna be fine, you just told me my brother’s going to die!”

“Well, that is unfortunately unavoidable at this point, you can thank Gabriel for that particular change in your story.  Goodbye Dean, I hope we never have occasion to meet again.” Castiel says dismissively, turning and walking out of the room with Uriel close behind.

“That all true Gabriel?”

“Yes Dean, come on let me show you something.”  Gabriel reaches out for Dean’s wrist and pulls him through the door and they’re on the deck of a boat crossing a city harbor.  “My screw-up is here.”  He points to a spot on a page in a book.

Dean can’t make out what it’s supposed to mean, all the symbols are arcane and seem to be moving and changing on one part of the book.  There’s all these intersecting lines and he has no idea what Gabriel wants him to understand.  And he’s so disoriented, _why the hell is he on a boat now, where’d that room go, and the diner, the Impala?_  “What is this I’m looking at?” Dean asks in a daze.

“This is what I’ve been using to track you and Sam all this time.  This is your line, and right here’s Sam’s, and the plan showed you diverging here, after killing Azazel.  See?”  Gabriel traces it out with one elegantly manicured fingertip. 

“I guess, but what did he mean about Sam having to die?”

“Well, Azazel has Sam right now as we speak, and that means a big change in The Plan, to get it back on track, Sam has to die.  And then you’ll kill Azazel in revenge for him taking your whole family from you.  Crisis averted.”

“I’m not seeing a crisis Gabriel, in my world, the crisis is that you’re telling me Sam’s dying. And that just ain’t happening!”

“You’re pretty hung up on that one point.” Gabriel dryly observes.

“It’s not some plot point, it’s my brother damn it!  He’s all I’ve got.  If you’ve been watching me, you oughta know that by now.”

“It may seem that way Dean, but according to this, not entirely true.” Gabriel closes the book and gestures with it at Dean.

“I don’t care. And you’re dead wrong. Sam ** _is_** all I have. Sounds like this is your screw-up dude, you owe me.  Put me back there.  Where Sam is, so I can help.  We’ll still kill Azazel I swear.  It’s been what our whole lives have been about.  If you’ve been following us, you know that.”

“Let me see.”  Gabriel opens his book and studies it intently, tracing different lines and combinations with his finger. Finally he looks up at Dean, “Yes, I think that actually could work.  I will set you here.” He points at a spot on the page where the lines come together and then spread out.  “And I believe you will be in time to save your brother.  The experience will put you on this path towards killing Azazel not long afterwards.  Then we’ll be even, okay Dean?”

“Yeah, sounds good, let’s go. My car too, right?” Dean says, not losing the urgency of needing to get to his brother, make sure he’s okay, not dying like these Adjuster guys are talking about.

“Yes yes, the car too. Just remember, you cannot talk about this to anyone, not even Sam.”

“Fine, just get me there in time.”

“I am sorry Dean, that you had to get pulled into this.”

“Gabriel, as long as Sam’s okay, it’s fine with me.” Dean declares.

Gabriel looks at him with widening eyes, impressed with Dean’s single-minded determination when it comes to his brother.  He hasn’t encountered a human that would take all of this information in and still be able to function as well as Dean is, so focused on just his brother’s life that he doesn’t care about the threat to his own memories.  “I will set you here, at your friend Bobby’s house.  He’ll help you find Sam.”

!@~!@~!@

But it doesn’t go according to Gabriel’s instructions exactly.  Not even close really.  Dean’s just a few seconds too late, and Sam dies just as Castiel had said.  Right in Dean’s arms.  And as Dean had warned Gabriel, it’s a crisis, much more than a crisis, it’s a world-ending event for Dean.  He has no other choice and he doesn’t even give a thought to the plan that Gabriel had laid out for him.  He does the only thing he knows how to do, before the Adjusters can step in and halt him, Dean’s raced off to the nearest crossroads, heedless of the cost, completely desperate to save Sam and made a deal with a crossroads demon and brought Sam back to life. 

At least the Winchesters go on to kill Azazel as they were supposed to, but that doesn’t matter in the scheme of things, The Plan has been severely compromised and the Adjusters have another meeting about how to proceed.

“He wasn’t supposed to do that.  I never imagined he’d sell his soul like that.  It wasn’t even one of the possibilities in the book, I was watching it very closely.” Gabriel protests, knowing that his words sound hollow and pointless.

“I am sure you were Gabriel, but this is out of our hands now.”  Castiel says firmly.

“Zachariah stepping in?” Gabriel asks, defeated.  Castiel nods.  “Damn.” Gabriel whispers.  “He doesn’t deserve this.  Neither of them do.”

“I know, but Zachariah will set it right.” Castiel answers.

“That mean Dean will go to Hell after all?” Gabriel asks, sounding genuinely worried.

“Yes, he will, for a while.  The new plan says only four months.” Castiel says.

“A lot can happen in four months down there.  Up here too.  What’s Sam going to do?”

“You are off their case now, it is no longer your concern.”

“Fine.” Says Gabriel with a sinking feeling in his heart.  He has grown attached to this human and his brother and their extraordinary life.  It’s been fascinating to watch and he feels guilty for having failed to keep them on Plan.

!@#~!@#~

After they kill Azazel and Sam figures out what Dean’s done, Sam doesn’t just let Dean fuck or kill his way to an early exit to Hell though, he insists on trying to stop it, on attempting anything and everything to keep his brother from going there.  The cost too great to bear, he doesn’t feel that he’s worth Dean’s sacrifice; he can’t believe Dean would do this to him, not after what happened with their father selling his soul for Dean’s life.  Finally on their last Christmas together, they break down the remaining wall standing between them and end up in each other’s arms, not knowing how they could have remained separate all this time, with all the love and pain and sacrifice and life between them. 

“This was pretty strong eggnog.” Dean says, leaning back further into the uncomfortable green couch.

“Want some more? Think there’s a little left.” Sam answers.

“If you bring it to me.” Dean says, eyes closed, like maybe he’s going to be passed out before Sam gets back from across the room with the eggnog.

Sam gets up off his couch, retrieves the eggnog and comes back over to flop down next to Dean, he fills Dean’s plastic cup with the last of the eggnog and sets the carton down on the edge of the table.  He misses and it falls off with a wet thud.

Dean opens his eyes and laughs, falling over into Sam so they’re squished up against one another, “You’ve had enough Sammy.”

Sam laughs at himself, loving hearing that stupid pet name rolling off Dean’s tongue, “Yeah probably, don’t usually drink rum.”

They sit there in silence, leaned up against each other, both not really looking at the football game on the T.V.

“Hey Dean?” Sam asks almost too softly to be heard over the crowd noise.

Dean turns his head to look at Sam and answer him, but Sam’s face is right there, inches away from his.  Sam’s eyes focus on his lips and Sam slowly licks his own.  For all the time they’ve danced around this issue, there’s no final statement, or declaration.  Just the both of them leaning that half an inch each towards the other until their lips finally meet.  At first it’s just a soft chaste thing.  Just one brother thanking another the only way he knows how.  The other accepting the thanks and giving back his own. 

But then Sam sighs this tiny, small sound like he’s maybe about to cry and Dean won’t have that.  Not now.  So he turns the kiss into what they both really need.  Deep and wanton, searching and shattering.  They explore each other’s mouths, coaxing all the flavors out getting past the overpowering rum and the cloying eggnog, down to their essence.  Where they’re the most similar, just Sam. Just Dean.  But mixing together into what they’ve always hungered for.

Dean’s got one arm around Sam’s shoulders pulling him closer and closer, Sam’s got his hands cradling Dean’s face as if it’s the most precious object in the world.  They break off to gasp for air and search each other’s faces quickly, not frantic, but a checking –in, a sussing-out, _“is this okay? Yeah of course.”_ The silent conversation, quick and over and done. Dean dives back in first and goes for Sam’s neck, biting and licking and sucking his way up and down that long tanned column that he’s always fantasized about.  Sam can’t do anything but lean back and enjoy it, soaking in all the sensation of his brother’s mouth finally on him, taking him apart as if he already knows the roadmap to all of Sam’s favorite places.

Dean ends up at Sam’s ear, biting and sucking the lobe between his lips, breathing into Sam’s ear, “Sam, Sammy, want you.”

“I know Dean, want you too.” Sam groans back, running his hands over Dean’s back ceaselessly, finally able to touch and to hold without the excuse of injury or near-death.  Dean pushes Sam backwards until he’s able to cover Sam’s body with his own.  They both arrange themselves into something that works, Sam’s legs spread to fit Dean between them.  For the next twenty minutes or so all they do is kiss, touching and holding, growing more and more excited with this new thing between them.

Well it’s not new, not really, it’s something they’ve always known as a possibility.  But this.  This is reality.  The reality of Dean’s lips yes being just that soft and agile as Sam had always guessed.  And oh yes the reality of Sam’s neck being the best tasting real-estate on a person Dean’s ever tasted in his life.  The first rush of pleasure at exploring each other ebbs and Dean sits up slowly.  Sam’s eyes follow him in the twinkling Christmas lights as he lifts off his shirt.  Dean’s skin looks like it’s made out of jewel colored fabrics, glowing and beautiful and endless and those strong muscles flex and twitch as Sam runs his hands over him.  “So beautiful Dean, you’re so beautiful.”

“Shut up.”

Sam looks up at him eyes filled with equal amounts of defiance and lust, “No, I won’t. You are. To me you are.”

“You now.” Dean pulls at Sam’s shirt impatiently, not wanting to get into anything too sappy.  It’s bad enough he feels like bursting into song or something at finally finally getting this. Sam sits up, his stomach muscles contracting and Dean groans at the sight of all that skin, so soft and still a little tanned and all those huge hard muscles.  All spread out for him.  Sam looks at him like he’s expecting him to say something.  And yeah maybe he should, but he wants to use his mouth a little differently, leaning over and taking one of Sam’s nipples into his mouth as he pinches and twists at the other one.  Sam squirms under him, writhing in an unconsciously sexy way, there’s nothing Dean can do but keep suckling at that nipple, biting it lightly causes Sam to groan and push his hips up in a hard jerk.  Dean laughs at getting that response, he’d always wondered if Sam would be easy or not.

“Yeah I am.” Sam says between his loud groans of pleasure.

“You are what?” Dean asks, still flicking his tongue on Sam’s nipple.

“Easy.  At least when it comes to you.”

“What you reading my mind now?”

“No, just answering your question.” Sam answers.

“Didn’t know I said it.” Dean says.

“You say a lot without saying any words Dean.  I’ve been listening my whole life.”

“I know Sammy.  Now hear this.” Dean says, sliding his way down Sam’s body, and undoes the button on his jeans. Dean’s holding his eyes the whole way, watching to see if this is still what Sam wants.  He rubs at the thick bulge in Sam’s jeans, impressed at the size of his brother.  They’ve seen each other naked of course, but he didn’t imagine Sam would be this big when he was hard.  Okay, he’ll admit it, he’d imagined, but tried not to spend too much time on the image of Sam being anything more than proportional.

After some rearranging of limbs, Sam’s finally got his jeans and boxers off and Dean’s are most of the way there, with Sam tugging at them.  But Dean stops him by leaning down the rest of the way and kissing the tip of his flushed red cock. He just rests his lips there on the softest of soft skin and they both pause. Sam overwhelmed at the sight of his brother’s beautiful lips resting there, Dean’s senses overwhelmed by the scent and feel of Sam under him.  Something passes between them, acceptance, permission, encouragement, abandon, “C’mon Dean.” Sam finally manages to say.  “Don’t be a tease.”

“Oh little brother, you have no idea.” Dean murmurs as he kisses his way down Sam’s shaft.

A few minutes of teasing licks and nuzzles and Dean just can’t hold back anymore. He breathes out on Sam’s cock as he travels back up to the tip and enjoys hearing Sam sigh in impatience.  Suddenly he wets his lips and takes Sam in, as far as he can, his right hand coming up to wrap around the base, pulling and jacking Sam slow in time with the bobs of his mouth up and down.  Dean swirls his tongue around the head, teasing the slit until pulses of pre-come hit his tongue.  The bitter taste exploding in his mouth, causes him to groan and that vibration makes Sam start thrusting a little, like he’s trying to hold himself back but he can’t.  Little tiny shifts of his hips up reaching towards Dean.

God help him Dean loves it, wants it so bad. Wants Sam to come in him right now.  He pulls off and tells Sam that, demanding. “Right now Sammy, c’mon want it all.”

Sam throws his head back when he hears those words, and groans deeply, thrusting just a little harder into Dean’s mouth, relishing the friction and the heat and wet completely perfect suction of his brother’s mouth.  “Too good Dean, can’t stop.” Sam breathes out. 

“Good, c’mon Sam, please, want it.” Dean asks again, hoping he doesn’t sound like he’s begging, even though he absolutely is.   There’s an order to be maintained after all. 

Sam opens his eyes up and takes in the sight, his brother’s competent rough hand enclosing him, moving up and down in time with his beautiful mouth stretched so wide over his cock and oh god it’s the hottest thing he’s ever seen in his life.  “Dean I’m gonna…” 

Dean just nods and relaxes his throat, letting Sam in that little extra bit so that Sam’s hitting the soft palate and Sam realizes that he’s in Dean’s throat and it’s too much even for him and he let’s go, it feels like years’ worth saved up for Dean, and he’s amazed when Dean swallows it all, well almost all, some leaking out down the side of his chin.  When Dean finally pulls off, Sam reaches down and wipes it off gently and holds his finger up to Dean’s mouth.  Dean’s eyes darken and he licks Sam’s finger completely clean.

“Now you. What do you want Dean?” Sam asks once his breath has returned enough to fill his lungs.

“You. Just you Sammy, anything.” Dean answers in a husky, wrecked voice.

“Want to fuck me?” Sam offers, hoping that it’s the right thing to say, because it’s all he wants right now, can’t think of anything else he’d rather have.

And Dean’s bravado evaporates as if it was never there.  The words out of Sam’s mouth so extraordinary and unexpected.  He scrambles up and gets his jeans and boxers off in record time, finally looking up to meet Sam’s eyes.  What he sees there almost makes him fall over, the depths of lust and desire and sheer want he sees in Sam’s hazel eyes is too much to bear for very long. So he moves his eyes down Sam’s body, spread out and wanton after his orgasm, Sam’s hand is stroking his half-hard cock slowly.  “Who’s beautiful now?” Dean says, immediately regretting it until he sees the fleeting look on Sam’s face, of nothing but acceptance, no teasing, no laughing at his sappiness, just deep appreciation at hearing words like **_that_** at a time like **_this_**. 

Dean steps away from the couch and fumbles around in his duffel bag finally coming up with a tube of lube and some condoms.  By the time he’s back at the couch, Sam’s growing hard again and staring at Dean’s cock swaying and bouncing as he walks.  There’s something that he can’t deny inside, a preening feeling of enjoying being looked at, being desired.  It’s a good surprise to find that it’s really different, so much better, when it’s coming from someone he loves.  Dean throws the condoms down next to Sam’s hip, and gets some lube on his fingers, bringing them down to Sam’s hole and dropping the bottle off the bed. 

“Relax, Sammy, not gonna hurt you.”

“I know Dean. Just hurry up.”

“Hang on sweetheart, I’ll get you there.”

Sam stops his writhing when he hears that endearment, almost freezing all his movements.  Dean decides to ignore it, giving himself a free pass for mushy talk during sex, a guy can’t help what comes out of his mouth at times like these.  But Sam’s eyes are softer now, like he’s seeing Dean for the first time.  Not just his big brother that he’s about to fool around with, but the man he loves, and who loves him.  Sam swallows around the lump in his throat and wraps his hand around Dean’s wrist, stopping the fingers moving in and out of him.  “I’m ready please Dean.”

“Okay, let me just.”  Dean reaches down and grabs one of the condom packages and starts to tear it, but Sam knocks it out of his fingers. 

“Just you.  Want to feel you, all of you.”

Dean’s eyes widen in surprise.  “You’re the boss Sammy.”

“Don’t you forget it.”

Dean lines himself up at Sam’s entrance and rests the tip of his cock there, just partway in. He meets and holds Sam’s eyes, wanting to watch him the whole time he’s being entered.  Not only to make sure he’s not hurting Sam, but to see what it does to him, how being taken changes everything.  Sam gives a little nod and Dean pushes forward slowly and steadily, stopping every now and then until Sam relaxes enough for him to keep going. 

Sam’s panting and breathing heavily, willing his inner muscles to relax and feeling so lit up inside that he can barely stay in the moment with Dean.  This feeling of being pinned down and opened loose and filled completely is like nothing he’s ever experienced.  And it’s Dean.  Finally Dean. Sam fumbles around until he reaches one of Dean’s hands at his side and twines their fingers together. 

Dean lifts their joined hands up to his lips and kisses Sam’s fingers gently one at a time. 

Sam sighs at this tenderness, feels so treasured and special because Dean is treating him so carefully.  He’d never thought about what kind of lover his brother would be.  He’d figured there’d be posturing, macho b.s. and relentless pounding.  Which honestly, still sounds pretty damned good, hopefully at some point that’ll happen too.  But tonight, this is not just fucking, they’re making love, not that he’d ever say that in a million years to Dean, but that’s what this is. He can see the love filling Dean up, his eyes are swimming with it, and he’s never seen this look on his brother’s face.  He unwraps their joined hands and cradles the side of Dean’s face in his hand. 

Dean closes his eyes for a moment and leans into his touch.  Finally Dean comes to a stop, finally sheathed entirely inside Sam.  They both share a moment where it looks like they’re both about to cry out with joy, the bliss of finally being joined like this is almost overwhelming.  And then Sam moves his hips slightly and Dean slips just a little into the right position. 

Sam cries out, as stars burst over his vision, he moves his hips again wanting that feeling back and Dean gets it, he’s found the sweet spot and he starts thrusting a little in and out slowly, trying to aim for it. Sam chasing the feeling now moving his hips in time until they sync up into a well-oiled machine, parts moving in time just like when they’re hunting.  Anticipating each other’s moves perfectly. 

Dean starts losing his rhythm pretty soon, it all feels too good, the tight grip of his brother is too perfect, the slippery sliding feeling of the friction and the clenching as Sam reacts when he hits his prostate is all too much.  “Sammy, gonna.”

“Come on Dean, fill me.  Want to feel it.”

Dean redoubles his efforts finding the rhythm again, Sam joining him, body clenching and releasing, hips pulsing sinuously.  Sam pulls him down and raises up to meet him in a fierce claiming kiss.  The extra sensation of their lips touching is what sends Dean over the edge, convulsing and letting loose inside Sam.

Sam cries out at the feeling, being taken so deeply and feeling the liquid warmth inside, “Oh Dean, god, I never felt.” And Sam’s surprised that he comes too, all that extra friction of their bodies moving together was enough, he lets loose between them, coating their bellies in sticky heat.  Dean’s arms are shaking at this point, so Sam taps one to let him know to come down. 

Dean pulls out as gently as he can and lowers himself down next to Sam burying his face in Sam’s sweaty neck.  And it’s perfect, nothing’s wrong, except they’re on a crappy green vinyl couch celebrating his last Christmas ever.  But he can’t think about that now, can’t bear it, not now that he’s finally got this.  Their breathing slows down to near normal before Sam finally breaks the silence.

“Thank you.  I really needed that.”  Sam’s breath hitches a little with too much emotion.

“You’re welcome, thank you, guess I needed it too.” Dean admits, kissing at Sam’s collarbone, licking up the salty taste off his soft skin.

“Want to move to the bed with me or you staying here?” Dean asks after he’s almost fallen off the edge of the couch several times.

Sam looks at him as if he’s revealed some essential truth he’d meant to keep secret.  “I’m coming with you, hold on.”  They get up and stumble over to one of the beds.  Dean detouring for a washcloth to clean them up with.  “Here let me.” He says, leaning over to wash Sam clean so gently.  He turns back the covers and pushes Sam down onto the bed.  He stalks over to the TV and turns it off, but he leaves the Christmas lights on. 

Sam opens his arms up when he crawls under the covers and they fit themselves back together.  “You left the Christmas lights on.”

“Yeah I like how it looks.”

“Glad we did Christmas after all?”

“Oh yeah.  Night Sammy.”  Dean reaches up and kisses him softly, like a bookend to their first kiss not so long ago.

Sam presses into Dean’s lips and holds him close.  “Yeah, ‘night Dean.”   

There’s nothing sweeter than this new connection and they revel in it for a few too-short months, unabashed and unashamed, taking each other to heights of pleasure and joy neither had imagined possible.  Everything finally feels right between them, like they’ve settled into the grooves meant for them in each other’s hearts.

To Sam, it feels like even though Dean is being taken from him, that he’ll never actually lose Dean.

To Dean, it feels like they’ve given each other something to always remember, no matter where they end up.

The Adjusters don’t realize that what’s happened here has changed everything for Sam and Dean, that now that they’ve completely given in to the love they’ve always felt, that there’s no turning back for either of them.

~!@#~!@#

While Dean is in Hell, Castiel runs into Gabriel in one of the Adjuster’s meeting rooms, “How’s it going with our tough nuts Castiel?”

Castiel looks up from his leather-bound portfolio, laid on the desk, “You’re not going to believe this Gabriel, look, their lines are not diverging now.  They are completely wrapped up into one solid line. Even after Hell.”

“How about the joining symbol there? You mean they actually?  Huh, I did not see that coming.” Gabriel says.

“I did not either.  We assumed the traditional human taboos were enough, but these two are really different from most humans.”

“I could’ve told you that, been watching them all their lives.  Guess you should have kept me on their case.” Gabriel says.

“Perhaps.” Castiel allows, although a pained look crosses his face.

“What’s Zachariah going to do about it?” Gabriel asks, hoping that he can somehow get back on the Winchester’s case.

“Come along and see.  We’re getting Dean out pretty soon.” Castiel says, hoping that Gabriel will be able to help him fix this mess.  Or at least be there to blame if all goes completely wrong.

!@$#@!!

“Where am I?” Dean says, disoriented beyond belief, he’s looking around himself frantically and somehow this over-the-top fancy room looks really familiar, like he’s been there before, but the horrific sights and sounds of Hell have taken over his memories, leaving him barely clinging to his soul.  Then he remembers, the Adjusters, and there they are, all three of them sitting in their comfy chairs, Gabriel, Castiel and Uriel.

“We’ve brought you back Dean.  You’re alive, back on Earth in our waiting room.” Castiel answers.

“Where’s Sam?”

“He is fine.  He is not here though.” Castiel says.

“I need him.  Need to see him. Now.” Dean insists.

“No Dean.  That is not what this is about.  It is not why we brought you back from Hell.  You have another task. And besides, this situation between the two of you is a serious deviation from The Plan." Castiel says with a serious frown.

”I’m pretty sure I told you before, I don’t care about your fucking Plan, and I sure as Hell don’t care about your fucking judgment of me and my brother. You let me go, I need to find him.”

“We will take you to him soon, but we need to get a few things straight first.  You are not to take up your sexual relationship with your brother again.  That needs to stop.  And your task is to assist us in stopping the breaking of the Seals holding Lucifer in his cage in Hell.”

“What?  None of that makes sense.” Dean shakes his head like he’s trying to make all the puzzle pieces fall into their correct places.

“Remember Lilith? The one who took you to Hell?  She is breaking the lock on Lucifer’s cage, to let him out, there are about six hundred of them, and she only needs to break sixty-six.” Castiel explains.

“Why is that my problem?” Dean asks, how is one human supposed to do anything about that?

“You were the one who broke the first seal, while you were in Hell when you took up the knife from Alastair.  It is written that you shall be the one to prevent Lucifer from escaping. We will assist you in this endeavor.  We shall reveal ourselves to your brother and call ourselves angels. But let me be clear, you are not to resume things with your brother.  And you are not to tell him of anything else you’ve seen here, or the order for resetting will be invoked. Are we agreed?”

“Yes, fine, just take me to him please.” Dean relents, hoping there’ll be some way out of this agreement because he knows there’s not a chance that Sam will take no for an answer for very long.

They reunite and Sam is beyond thrilled that Dean’s back and alive and mostly whole.  But he soon finds himself walking on eggshells around Dean, figuring that the trauma from Hell is what is keeping his brother from re-consummating things between them.  Time goes on and although they are close and work together on the Seals, the distance grows greater between them.  Dean eventually finds out the truth that Sam’s been hiding from him about the demon Ruby and he is heart-broken, feeling betrayed, and hurt beyond measure.  He sees that Sam’s consumed with revenge just like their father was, and isn’t sure how to help him.

Even when Sam meets the Adjusters who call themselves angels, he refuses to stop his course.  Both Uriel and Castiel try and fail to convince him, but they are not telling the whole story to the two humans they are assigned to.  Their duty is to the Adjustment Bureau, and The Plan, not to individual humans.

  !*@~!@##

Three men in dark suits and hats walk on the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Boston and stand at its edge.

  
“Big night for us, gentlemen. Everybody ready for the final Seal?” Castiel asks, looking at the other two.

They all nod in agreement.  Castiel looks more closely at Gabriel, “You look exhausted. You should take a vacation when all this is finished. You have earned it.  I really mean it this time, we would not be here if you had listened to me before.”

  
Gabriel answers, “I'm not sure the kind of tired I am can be fixed by just a vacation.”

With a dismissive wave, Castiel says, “Everybody needs a vacation. Even us. All right, let's get this back on track.  No more screw-ups.”

!@#$~@#

In Boston, Sam and Dean have a fight, a knock-down, drag-out fight about Ruby, the demon blood, Sam’s obsession for vengeance, Dean’s reluctance to be honest about Hell and why he won’t touch Sam anymore, everything.  Dean says a lot of stuff he shouldn’t have ever said out loud, and so does Sam.  The second Sam goes out the door, Dean is pulling himself up off the floor, wiping off the blood and trying to figure out how to get him back, so he can talk to him just once more.  Sam’s got it in his head that he has to kill Lilith, Ruby’s convinced him that it will end all their problems.  But something about it doesn’t seem right to Dean, and he doesn’t trust Ruby because she’s a demon, even if she did save Sam while he was stuck down in Hell. She just seems too invested in it all, Dean doesn’t see the upside for Ruby, so she’s got to be up to something. 

Dean and Sam get kept separated over and over, Dean struggling to get back to Sam after their fight, but the Adjusters keep putting obstacles in his path, the elevator gets stuck in the hotel, the car breaks down, a bridge is out, one thing after another.  But Dean doesn’t give up and he doesn’t stop. Something about the Adjuster’s insistence about keeping them apart is tripping all of Dean’s alarm bells.  There’s a feeling of urgency and importance that he can’t ignore, he’s got to get to Sam. 

Dean yells at them in the street when he sees their suits and fedoras, “You can keep trying but I’m not ever gonna stop!”  Dean notices that when things go his way, there’s a bright flooding sunlight that seems to come over everything, so he figures he’s on the right track.  There’s something comforting and inspiring about that sunlight, like someone’s cheering him on.

Finally, on a sunlit-flooded motel room corridor, not far off one of the main highways out of Boston, Dean catches up with Sam, a Sam who glowers and frowns and looks so unlike himself, so unlike the man he loves more than anything in this world.  His worry goes off the charts, and his words come rushing out, “Sam, finally, I caught up to you.  It’s been hard to find you, but I just want to say one thing. Will you at least listen?” 

Sam looks at him skeptically, crosses his arms across his chest and nods almost imperceptibly.

Dean takes a deep breath and starts, “Look, I'll just get right to it. I'm still pissed, but I didn’t mean what I said.  I'm not Dad. We're brothers. You know, we're family. And, we’re more than that.  And... no matter how bad it gets, that doesn't change. Sammy, I'm sorry.”  Dean sees his brother’s face soften and change into one he finally can recognize again.  Sam’s about to speak when suddenly, Castiel and Uriel appear and walk Dean right out the door, Sam’s shouts about the angels bringing his brother back right now! ringing in Dean’s ears.

~~~~@!#$%^!%@$!~

The Adjusters have finally given up, frustrated by Dean’s insistence.  Dean is brought to the Beautiful Room once again by Castiel and Uriel, and left there alone.  After pacing for a long time and knocking all the knick knacks off the fancy tables he finally sits in one of the way too comfortable chairs.  All he can think about is Sam and where he is right now, with Ruby, or if the Adjusters have done anything to him.  On the off chance that Sam’s trapped in another room in this place, he yells, “Sam! Sam! Can you hear me?”  Over and over until he’s gone completely hoarse.

“Frustrating is it not Dean?  Hello, I am Zachariah.”  A tall, older man in an expensive black suit and fedora asks from behind him.

Dean knows this isn’t good, whoever this person who just appeared is, he stands up and asks, “Whatever happened to free will?”

“We actually tried letting you all have free will, we have a long history of stepping in and out, letting humanity try, but it has not worked out quite yet.  Maybe in a few hundred years we will try another experiment.  The fact is, you do not have free will Dean, you have the **_appearance_** of free will.” Zachariah says, taking a few steps closer.

“You expect me to believe that? I make decisions every damn day.”  Dean protests, striding towards the man even though he wants more than anything to be as far away from this being who is radiating otherness and even more of that otherworldly power than the other adjusters he’s met so far.

“You have free will over the little things, which toothpaste to choose, whether to buy this car or that one, but humanity on the whole just isn’t strong enough to handle free will, so we handle the important things for you.” Zachariah waves one hand indicating little things of no big importance, frivolous enough to be left to humans to decide on for themselves.

“If you’re supposedly handling the important things you’re not doing a very good job are you? The last time I checked the world’s a pretty screwed up place.”

“If we had left things in your hands, it would not still be here.” Zachariah says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“So that’s it then, there’s some reason why I can’t be with Sam that’s more important than what we feel for each other.”

“Yes, exactly.” Zachariah agrees.

“And the reason is?” Dean asks.

“Really none of your concern, I doubt you could comprehend it all.”

“Try me.” Dean says in a flat voice that barely controls his intense anger and frustration.

“The Plan called for you and Sam to go your separate ways after killing Azazel, Sam was never supposed to have been killed, you certainly were not supposed to have sold your soul, and you most definitely were not supposed to have fallen in love.”

“Well, too bad for you, we did.”

“I am aware.  And that is what we are fixing right here, right now.” Zachariah says with a small smile that makes him look like a shark about to feed.

“You’re keeping me away from him when I could stop him from releasing Lucifer.  Why?” Dean asks, desperate for an answer that will make some sense.

“Well, The Plan always did call for Lucifer to be released, in fact in the revised Plan you were to be the one, but not for another twenty years or so.  Sam was supposed to be out of your life, a lawyer with a family who you never even met.  So we are just accomplishing the main thing tonight.  We will just get our next Apocalypse a little earlier than scheduled.”

“This is crazy.” Dean says, shaking his head in amazement that all these Adjusters running around with their machinations, meddling in everything are just going to welcome the Apocalypse. Again.

“I know it sounds that way to you.  But rest assured, there is A Plan, and we have got it all under control.”

“Not if the whole damn world is ending! That doesn’t sound like any kinda control to me!” Dean shouts.

“Dean, this is not the first Apocalypse that we have managed, and it will not be our last.  Think of it as a planetary reset, it is necessary medicine for the world to continue.”

“But, the people, what about all those lives?  Just snuffed out? No big deal?”

“Yes, exactly. And it all begins anew.  Humanity gets another chance, we wait and see if we will still be needed here or not.  Do not worry about not understanding it, it is all a large-scale issue for one human to comprehend.  Just know that by you and your brother’s hand, you have ensured the world stays on Plan.”

“Fuck your stupid Plan.  I just want to get to Sam, please, just let me talk to him.”

“No Dean.  You will stay here for now.  It won’t be for much longer. Be patient.”

“How can I be patient? You’re ending my whole damn world!  Please Zachariah.”

“Goodbye Dean.”  Zachariah picks his hat up from the table and puts it back on and walks out a door that wasn’t there before.  Dean runs to it and tries to follow.  But the doorknob won’t open for him.

“I’m sorry Dean, he’s really bad at explaining things.” Says a familiar voice behind him.

Dean turns to see Gabriel leaned up against the opposite wall, “Yeah he’s even worse than that Castiel guy.  Listen, Gabriel, you’ve got to help me.  Please, if I could just get to Sam.”

“Dean, it’s got to be this way.  I know it’s hard to understand.  It’ll be better in the end.” Gabriel says.

“No, it won’t.  Gabriel, all those people, all the ones you love to watch, all the families, they’ll all die.  And for what?  Some Plan that someone wrote somewhere ages again.  All those people living their lives will just be gone.  And you won’t let me even talk to Sam.  You’re a bunch of pussies, cowards, hiding behind your hats and your Plan.”

“What could you possibly say to Sam to get him to understand?”

“Just let me try, you’ll see.  Give us a chance.  Please Gabriel, if you ever thought you wanted things to be different, maybe this is it.  Maybe we can change how it works.”

“I don’t know Dean.  Let me check something.”  Gabriel pulls out his leather folio and opens it, a blinking moving schematic shows several lines and cross points moving and reconnecting interweaving in a complicated dance.  “According to this there’s a small possibility here.”  Gabriel points at one spot where a red line and green line come close together.  “What the heck.  It’s all going to restart again if you fail.”

“Thanks Gabriel, I swear you won’t regret this.” Dean says fervently.

“It’s really not up to you Dean, but just, try your hardest please, because it will be really unpleasant for me if you fail.  So you’ve got to wear this hat to get through the doors.”

Gabriel explains that the Adjusters (wearing their hats), are able to move from place to place on Earth through any and all of the doors; that they all know the maps of where to go, how to get from here to there.  To get to Sam in time, he’s going to have to go through a long series of doors.  He shows Dean the specific doors to look for in another page in his folio on a sort of map, describes them all in detail and quizzes Dean on the order until he gets it right.  Finally he mentions that Dean has to always be sure to turn the doorknob to the right, never to the left.

“What happens if I turn it to the left Gabriel?” Dean can’t help his innate human curiosity.

“You don’t want to know.  Just don’t okay?  So when you get to Sam, you’ll only have a few minutes to change his mind, maximum. Then they’ll come, Zachariah and the rest. They’ll reset you, probably both of you, and you won’t even know each other, in this world, or in the reset.   I won’t be able to be there and help because you’ll have my hat.  You ready?”

“Yeah, I guess.  Thanks.  For uh, giving us a chance.  Me and Sam, humans and all.”

“I don’t know why but I’ve always had a soft spot for you humans, not many adjusters agree with me, but a few do, we think you have more potential than The Plan gives you credit for.   And you and Sam have proven to me over and over that The Plan isn’t the only thing that works to change things for the better.  Through you I’ve seen that there’s something about specific human relationships that involve deep love that is more powerful than anything The Chairman could ever conceive of.”

“What, you’re saying our love that can save the world?” Dean asks, laughing at the thought.

“Pretty much.” Gabriel says, so matter-of-factly, his brown eyes twinkling.

“Huh.” Dean can’t even comprehend that really, and doubts that it’s true.  All he wants to do is get to Sam, see if this last chance will work or at least see him again before it all ends.

“Go get him Dean.”  Gabriel takes the grey fedora off his head and reaches up to put it on Dean’s.

“I will.”  Dean steps up to the ornate door, puts his hand on the doorknob, he turns back to say “Thanks Gabriel.”  He turns the doorknob to the right and steps through.

~#~@#~~

Dean moves through door after door, running down Boston’s city sidewalks, through building lobbies, restaurant kitchens and finally opens a large oaken door into what looks like an abandoned stone chapel.  He registers three people, but only has eyes for Sam.  Taking the demon killing knife out of his jacket he strides towards Ruby and Sam. 

“Dean, what are you doing here?” Sam asks, completely surprised and not really all there since he was in the middle of subduing and ending Lilith.

“Sam, killing Lilith is the last Seal!  You can’t do it, it’ll let Lucifer out of his cage!” Dean yells with all the urgency he can muster, seeing that Sam’s not really with it, his eyes look so unfocused and strange.

“What do you mean?” Sam asks, so confused, not sure what his brother is saying or how he’s even here at all.

“C’mon Sam, just do it, you’re almost there!  You’ve almost got her. Lilith took Dean to Hell!  Kill Her!  Do it Now! Don’t stop now after everything!” shouts Ruby desperately.  She can’t spare any power to hold Dean back as she’s using it all on Sam.

“Sam, listen to me, if you still love me like I love you, you’ve got to stop.  Ruby’s been lying to you this whole time.” Dean pleads, hoping that using the “l’ word will get Sam’s attention.

Sam stops dead in his tracks, searching Dean’s face for answers, hesitating because he’s heard Dean’s plea, and he wants so much to just drop everything and run for his brother’s arms.

“No Sam, don’t stop, you’ve got to do it!” Ruby yells, pushing Sam towards Lilith who’s lying on the stone floor up against the altar.

“Don’t push me Ruby.” Sam says in a voice suddenly menacing and full of dark power.  He turns and holds her still and nods at Dean.  Dean gets the silent message and steps forward thrusting the knife into Ruby’s heart and turning it.  She flashes out and dies in Sam’s arms.  He lowers her to the floor and turns his attention to the unconscious Lilith.  Instead of killing her, with Dean’s help he draws a devil’s trap with Ruby’s blood on the stone floor in front of the altar.  Sam feels the power surging through him, reaching forward to kill Lilith, barely in control. “Dean stand back, I’ve got to…”

“Don’t Sam, don’t kill her.”

“Not going to, but you gotta get back.  Not sure if I can stop.”  Sam barely manages to say through gritted teeth, like he’s holding onto both his consciousness and humanity. 

Dean sees that his eyes have gone black, shiny demon black and his heart sinks.  Maybe he was too late.  Again.  He steps forward and plasters himself to Sam’s back, holding onto him tightly and saying “Sammy, I’m not going anywhere.  I’ve got you.  Sammy, come back, please, you’ve got to come back to me.” Over and over again in increasing desperation.

Sam shrugs him off a little, but not completely, and reaches both hands outstretched towards Lilith lying there on the floor in the devil’s trap, the power flows out of him and the bloody markings of the trap light up with a sickly green-yellow glow, it gets brighter and brighter, forming a big circle, then a solid sphere all around her.  The devil’s trap markings glow and pulse in the sphere, moving ceaselessly over its surface.  Sam drops his arms and collapses, like a switch has been flipped to off.  Dean just barely holds him up enough to keep him from hitting the floor. 

Dean lowers him down slowly and quickly checks Sam over.  His pulse is going way too fast, and he’s breathing shallowly.  Dean feels filled with despair, that whatever Sam’s done might have stopped the Apocalypse, but harmed him permanently.  He holds Sam’s face in his hands and kisses him on the lips, and begs one more time, “Sammy, come back to me. Please.”  He feels Sam take a deep breath and let it out on a sigh, his whole body relaxing.

Sam’s eyes open slowly, the demon black disappearing as Dean watches with a cool wash of relief.  Suddenly Sam is there again.  “Dean?”

“You okay Sammy?” Dean asks, still holding Sam’s face in his hands.

Sam reaches up and covers Dean’s hands with his, like he’s trying to see if Dean’s real, “Yeah, I think so, what happened?”

“You, uh, went full Vader, and did something to Lilith.”  Dean takes his hands away from Sam’s face and points to the glowing sphere beside them, where they can faintly see Lilith’s body lying on the floor.

“I did that?” Sam asks with incredulous surprise, sitting up with a groan.

“Yeah, doesn’t look like you killed her, maybe trapped her?”

“You said killing her was the final Seal.  So this means no Lucifer?” Sam asks.

“Nope, you saved the day dude.” Dean says proudly.

“More like you did.  How’d you even find me?  And why are you wearing a hat?” Sam asks, tugging on the brim of the fedora.

“It’s a long story.  Come on, we have to get out of here before they come.” Dean stands, pulling Sam with him, supporting Sam around the waist.

“Who comes?” Sam asks as Dean guides him towards the door.

“Adjusters. Angels.  Whatever. I’ll explain on the way.  Are you with me?”  Dean asks, his hand on the doorknob, other arm around Sam’s waist.

“Yeah, of course.” Sam answers, immensely glad that he finally can mean it again.

“Here goes nothing.”  Dean turns the doorknob to the left and opens the door onto a beautifully elegant long hallway.  Marble floors, wood paneling, high ceilings, the works.  They step through and see some men in suits and hats walking through an entranceway far down the hallway.  Dean turns and starts walking them quickly the other way.

“Dean where are we?” Sam whispers.

“Going to see The Chairman.” Dean answers, pulling Sam along by the hand. 

They sneak down a few more hallways and find what looks like a large reading library with many of the adjusters sitting at beautiful wood tables, they manage to walk along the edge of it and they almost pass unnoticed until a large man steps in front of them.  “Well Dean Winchester, what a surprise. What are you doing here?” asks Uriel in his deep booming voice.

“Uriel my man, get out of the way.  We’ve got to see The Chairman.” Dean says, trying to push around him.

“I don’t think so.” Uriel reaches out to grab Dean’s arm, but Sam pulls him back and into a side hallway just in time, they break into a run and take the first doorway, pounding up the stairs and coming out onto an empty rooftop overlooking Boston.  They run to the edge of the roof and hold on to each other, nowhere left to run, sure that the Adjusters will be there any second.

“Sorry Sammy, thought this would work.” Dean says.

 “Did you really think you could just get to The Chairman that easily, ask him to rewrite your Fate?  It doesn’t work like that.” Zachariah says, stepping through the door with a menacing glower, Uriel and Castiel right behind him over his shoulder.

A hatless Gabriel suddenly appears in the doorway and walks towards them, “I’ve got a message for you.  From The Chairman.”  He hands a large manila envelope to Zachariah and waits for him to read its contents.

“I understand.” Zachariah says quietly, putting the paper back in the envelope, suddenly looking defeated and small.  He looks at Sam and Dean standing there at the edge of the rooftop, wrapped up together as if he’s contemplating what to say to them for a long time.  Then without saying a word, he hands the envelope back to Gabriel, turns away from the three adjusters and walks off, disappearing down the staircase, Uriel and Castiel following close behind.

Gabriel comes closer to Sam and Dean and looks at them with a little proud smile, “Even Zachariah has a boss.”

“Gabriel? You’re The Chairman?” asks Dean, breathless with the idea that he’s basically standing here with his brother talking to God, The God.

Gabriel laughs, “No, not me.  But you’ve met Him though. Or Her.  I mean everybody has.  The Chairman comes in a different form to everyone. So that people rarely realize when it happens.”

“Is this, this some sort of test?”  Dean asks bravely, trying not to tremble, disguising it by pulling Sam in closer.

Gabriel looks away, off into the distance, “It’s all a test. For everybody.  Even the members of The Adjustment Bureau.” He turns back to them, looking at them both in turn, “Dean you risked everything for Sam.  And Sam when you came through that first door with Dean, you risked everything too.  But you inspired me.  Seems like you inspired The Chairman too.” 

Sam and Dean don’t say anything, just waiting to see if Gabriel will share anything else, this is all so confusing, Dean finally asks the obvious question, nodding at the envelope still in Gabriel’s hands, “That about us?”

“Yes.” Gabriel answers, looking at both of them in turn, smiling slightly.

“What does it say?” Dean and Sam ask in unison.

Gabriel looks down, as if he’s taking the time to think of how to phrase it for human ears, “Well it says that this situation between the two of you is a serious deviation from The Plan.”  He pulls a folded piece of paper out of the envelope and holds it up so Sam and Dean can see it.  There’s a schematic drawing with two lines crisscrossing and separating and then coming back together following twists and turns in unison, one mark blinking that indicates where they currently are.  “But The Chairman re-wrote it.”

“They can just do that?” Sam asks, so curious about all of this, it seems so far above their pay-grade.

Cocking his head to the side and smiling wider Gabriel answers, “Most people live life on the path that we set for them, too afraid to explore any other. But once in a while people like you and Dean come along and knock down every obstacle that we put in your way.  People who just seem to know, deep-down inside, that free will is a gift you’ll never know how to use until you have to fight for it.  I think that’s The Chairman’s real plan, that maybe one day, we won’t have to write The Plan any more, you will.”

Sam and Dean look at each other, relieved and overjoyed, Dean tries not to grin, holding it down to just a one-sided grin, they turn back to look at Gabriel, “Okay, so now what?”

Gabriel smirks at them both, steps forward and reaches up to retrieve his hat from Dean’s head, “Now, you can take the stairs.”  He grins and walks away.

When Gabriel has disappeared down the stair way, Sam says, “Dean, I’m not sure what that was all about, but thanks.”  Sam pulls him in close for a hug, one of those glad we’re still alive hugs that they occasionally have to give each other.

“For what?” Dean finally asks once he gets his breath back from having it all squeezed out.

“Risking everything for me, again.” Sam says, kissing the side of Dean’s head.

“You’d do the same.” Dean retorts, turning his face to Sam’s for a kiss.

“Yeah, I would.” Sam murmurs against Dean’s lips.

“Well that’s why.” Dean says quietly.

“Ready to make our own Plan?” Sam asks holding him tight around the waist and burying his face in Dean’s neck against the cold.

“My only plan right now is to get you back to a motel somewhere close with a big bed, it’s been too long.”

“I like the way you think Dean Winchester.”

“That’s not all you like.”  Dean slaps him on the ass and takes Sam’s hand pulling him towards the staircase door.

Sam can’t answer because he’s laughing, a free, easy laugh that Dean hasn’t heard in this whole year of darkness and separation.  And he’s so happy that he joins Sam in laughing, their laughter echoing through the canyon of skyscrapers.  They disappear down the stairway arm in arm, and don’t notice the three men in hats standing on the roof top behind them.

“I can’t believe you got away with that Gabriel.” Says Castiel, a little awe in his voice.

“It wasn’t really me.” Answers Gabriel with a shrug, “It was all them.  And The Chairman of course.”

“Now you finally going to take that vacation?” Asks Castiel.

“Yeah, think I will hang up my hat for a little while.  There’s been too many doors to go through lately.” Gabriel says.  “Keep it all together while I’m gone, okay?”  He goes through the door, leaving Castiel and Uriel on the rooftop.

“I don’t know why, but something about what Gabriel did makes me think we should change our methods.” Castiel says.  Uriel doesn’t respond, but seems to consider his statement.  They go over to the rooftop edge and watch wordlessly as Sam and Dean walk down the busy sidewalk towards where the Impala has been parked for them.  They get in and it takes off, soon disappearing into traffic. 

“So we don’t have to watch them anymore?” Asks Uriel.

“No, they’re off the list.  Per The Chairman.  It’s up to them now.” Answers Castiel.

The adjusters go through the door one by one.  Leaving the rooftop finally empty once again.

~FIN~


End file.
